Judge dismisses suit against model Seymour

Published 2:26 am, Tuesday, September 1, 2009

STAMFORD -- A lawsuit filed against a former Victoria's Secret model by her estranged husband's security guard was dismissed by a judge in state Superior Court.

Judge Edward Karazin Jr. granted a motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed earlier this week by attorneys for Stephanie Seymour, who is embroiled in a bitter divorce case with her 62-year-old husband, Peter Brant, a newsprint billionaire.

Karazin wrote in a decision dated Wednesday that Seymour, 39, had not been properly served a subpoena to start the civil suit.

"If any case ever screamed recession' it was this one -- a former cop suing Stephanie over a crumpled up piece of paper?" said Seymour's attorney, Mark Sherman. "He should have went to the nearest Kinkos instead of (the) courthouse."

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The security guard, Joseph Babnik, of Carmel, N.Y., said he reported for his first day of work for Brant on June 4 when Seymour walked up to the car he was sitting in at the couple's 924 North St. property in Greenwich, asked who he was working for and grabbed employment paperwork from the front seat.

Babnik followed Seymour toward the house and confronted her, asking for the papers back. She crunched the paperwork into a ball and shoved it down her dress before pulling a screen door closed, cutting his arm, the lawsuit stated.

Seymour's assistant called police and Seymour told them Babnik shoved her into a door, police have said. That claim resulted in a disorderly conduct charge against Babnik.

Police returned to the residence later that evening after another verbal altercation between Seymour and a security guard. In that instance, Seymour was issued a summons charging her with creating a public disturbance, an infraction. Sherman said that also resulted from a security guard blocking access to Seymour's home.

Babnik's attorney, Christopher Caldwell, said the ruling does not prevent a future lawsuit, which they intend to file.

Staff writer Monica Potts can be reached at monica.potts@scni.com or 964-2266.